5 Rocket Stocks Worth Buying This Week

These stocks have both short-term gain catalysts and longer-term growth potential.

BALTIMORE ( Stockpickr) -- Well, this isn't taking long. The S&P 500 pushed its way up to 1503.26 on Friday, putting itself within 4% of its all-time high close from back in 2007. As you might expect, that big move comes with some big trading implications for stocks.

Why do new highs matter? In broad strokes, a new record high in the S&P 500 means that everyone who owns equities is sitting on gains, no matter when they bought. That's a big deal from a psychological standpoint because it shakes investors clean of the "back to even" mentality that's been plaguing Mr. Market ever since March 2009.

That's a big part of why we're taking a look at five new Rocket Stock names this week.

For the uninitiated, "Rocket Stocks" are our list of companies with short-term gain catalysts and longer-term growth potential. To find them, I run a weekly quantitative screen that seeks out stocks with a combination of analyst upgrades and positive earnings surprises to identify rising analyst expectations, a bullish signal for stocks in any market. After all, where analysts' expectations are increasing, institutional cash often follows. In the last 185 weeks, our weekly list of five plays has outperformed the S&P 500 by 74.4%.